The wife of a British photographer injured in Syria during an attack that killed two reporters is pleading for his release.

As tanks patrolled the streets while the country went to the polls, Foreign Office officials told Kate Conroy it was too dangerous to get her husband Paul out of the besieged city of Homs.

But Mrs Conroy said: “My husband has put his life at risk, and the others have.

"I would like it if somebody in the British Embassy said ‘forget the protocol, I’m going in and I’m going to help to get them out’. But I know that is not going to happen.

“I have asked and I’ve had quite a heated conversation with an MP and he’s been absolutely categoric with me that it’s not going to happen.”

Mr Conroy, 47, was hurt in the attack in Homs on Wednesday which killed war reporter Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.

Force: A Syrian army tank rolling in the Herak district of the southern Daraa province (Image: Getty)

Mr Conroy was hit by shrapnel in the leg and stomach.

The British ambassador is said to be lobbying the Syrian foreign ministry for his safe release, while talks are also taking place with the Red Crescent humanitarian organisation.

Mrs Conroy, 56, said her husband – a father of three – had turned down a chance to leave Homs with the Syrian Red Crescent after being told they were “not to be trusted”.

Mrs Conroy, from Totnes, Devon, said: “They refused to leave with them unless they had somebody from the British or French Embassy with them as an escort.

“I can understand his rationale for it but having had various conversations with MPs, the Foreign Office and so on, I know they are not going to provide an Embassy official to go with them.

“Now he needs to realise that they have an international profile and that is sufficient protection in its own right to get them out safely.”

The Government insisted it was exploring every option.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said: “We are doing everything we possibly can. It is extremely difficult and the conversations are patchy.”

The Syrian government yesterday held a referendum on a new constitution as violence continued around the country, killing at least 20 people.

Attacks: Smoke and flames rising from reported shelling by regime forces in the Baba Amr neighbourhood

The new constitution calls for a multi-party parliamentary election within three months. The opposition has boycotted the “farcical” vote and demanded that President Bashar al-Assad stand down.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the vote “a cynical ploy” and appealed to Syrians in the military to abandon their embattled leader.

She said: “The longer you support the regime’s campaign of violence against your brothers and sisters, the more it will stain your honour. If you refuse however to prop up the regime or take part in attacks ... your countrymen and women will hail you as heroes.”

Activists estimate that close to 7,500 people have died in the 11 months since the Assad crackdown began.